While the term Machine Learning has dramatically increased in popularity recently, it is a key component of Artificial Intelligence that has actually been around since the late 1950s. Understanding what it is and how it can be found all around us is simple (and sometimes even entertaining).
Stripping away the hype, Machine Learning refers to automatically applying statistical analysis to large amounts of data, and executing commands based on the results. This isn’t all that new by itself, but what is new is the unprecedented complexity and sophistication of the analysis and the commands that can be executed. The foundation for this growth is cheaper processing, cheaper storage, and a continuously expanding cloud-based infrastructure.
While some Machine Learning applications are still the stuff of science fiction, many are already familiar to us. Here are 25 examples of Machine Learning seen in the real world that we’ll be discussing in the "Everyday Encounter" series of blog posts that follow:
In the News
1. Finding pancreatic cancer based on internet search patterns
2. Predicting the 2013 Cholera Outbreak in Cuba
3. Tay (Microsoft @TayandYou Twitter Bot)
On the Web
4. Google Creations ("Auto Awesome")
5. People you may know on LinkedIn
6. Amazon's recommendation engine
In Your Home
8. Amazon Echo
10. Camio surveillance cameras
At the Office
11. Spam Detection
12. Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
13. Customer Segmentation (Personas)
14. Sentiment Analysis
15. Unlocking devices with a fingerprint
On the Road
18. License plate recognition at tolls
19. Road sign recognition
At the Doctor’s Office
20. Identifying irregular heart beat patterns
21. Predicting patients likely to be re-admitted
At the Bank
23. Mobile check deposits
24. Fraud detection
25. Calculating the market value of a House
